[en] Abstract The present study investigated diffusive emissions of methane (CH4) and nitrous oxide (N2O) to the atmosphere from three relatively small (3–120 km2) reservoirs (Masinga, Kamburu and Gitaru) on the Tana River (Kenya). Sampling was conducted biweekly in 2011, 2012 and 2013, at sampling sites upstream and downstream of these reservoirs while five sampling campaigns were carried out in 2011, 2012 and 2013 for different sites within each of the reservoirs. The dissolved CH4 (range: 19–2101 nmol/L) and N2O (range: 6.2–11.5 nmol/L) concentrations in the surface waters were generally very low in the three reservoirs, compared with other reservoirs globally. The lower diffusive emissions of CH4 (20–216 µmol/m2 day−1) and N2O (1.0–1.6 µmol/m2 day−1) from these reservoirs, compared with other tropical reservoirs, are probably related to their age (30–40 years), and lower vegetation biomass (savannah) originally present and submerged during their commissioning. The reservoirs with longer water residence times were characterized by higher diffusive CH4 fluxes (216 ± 666 µmol/m2 day−1) and slightly lower N2O fluxes (1.0 ± 1.5 µmol/m2 day−1). The relative contribution of turbine fluxes of CH4 and N2O, compared to diffusive fluxes, was also highly variable among the three dams, being lower in Masinga Reservoir and higher in Gitaru Reservoir.
Research Center/Unit :
FOCUS - Freshwater and OCeanic science Unit of reSearch - ULiège
Disciplines :
Aquatic sciences & oceanology
Author, co-author :
Okuku, Eric O.
Bouillon, Steven
Tole, Mwakio
Borges, Alberto ; Université de Liège - ULiège > Département d'astrophys., géophysique et océanographie (AGO) > Chemical Oceanography Unit (AGO)
Language :
English
Title :
Diffusive emissions of methane and nitrous oxide from a cascade of tropical hydropower reservoirs in Kenya
Abril, G., Bouillon, S., Darchambeau, F., Teodoru, C., Marwick, T. R., Tamooh, F., … Borges, A. V. (2015). Technical Note: Large overestimation of pCO2 calculated from pH and alkalinity in acidic, organic-rich freshwaters. Biogeosciences, 12, 67–78.
Abril, G., Guérin, F., Richard, S., Delmas, R., Galy-Lacaux, C., Gosse, P., … Matvienko, B. (2005G). Carbon dioxide and methane emissions and the carbon budget of a 10-year old tropical reservoir (Petit Saut, French Guiana). Global Biogeochemical. Cycles, 19, GB4007. https://doi.org/10.1029/2005GB002457
APHA. (1998). Standard method for the examination of water and wastewater, 20th ed. Washington, D.C.: APHA.
Barros, N., Cole, J. J., Tranvik, L. J., Prairie, Y. T., Bastviken, D. T., & Huszar, V. L. M. (2011). Carbon emission from hydroelectric reservoirs linked to reservoir age and latitude. Nature Geoscience, 4, 593–596.
Bastviken, D., Tranvik, L., Downing, J. A., Crill, P. M., & Enrich-Prast, A. (2011). Freshwater methane emissions offset the continental carbon sink. Science, 331, 50.
Beaulieu, J. J., Smolenski, R. L., Nietch, C. T., Townsend-Small, A., Elovitz, M. S., & Schubauer-Berigan, J. P. (2014). Denitrification alternates between a source and sink of nitrous oxide in the hypolimnion of a thermally stratified reservoir. Limnology and Oceanography, 59, 495–506.
Borges, A. V., Darchambeau, F., Teodoru, C. R., Marwick, T. R., Tamooh, F., Geeraert, N., … Bouillon, S. (2015). Globally significant greenhouse-gas emissions from African inland waters. Nature Geoscience, 8, 637–642.
Brown, T., & Schneider, H. (1998). The sustainable management of tropical catchments, Edited by: Harper, D. and Brown, T. Chichester, UK: John Wiley and Sons.
Brown, T., Schneider, H., & Harper, D. (1996). Multi-scale estimates of erosion and sediment yields in the upper Tana basin, Kenya. In D. E. Walling, & B. W. Webb (Eds.), Erosion and Sediment yield: Globaland Regional perspectives. Proceedings of the Exeter Symposium, July 1996 (pp. 49–54). Wallingford, UK: IAHS Press.
Cole, J. J., & Caraco, N. F. (1998). Atmospheric exchange of carbon dioxide in a low-wind oligotrophic lake measured by the addition of SF6. Limnology and Oceanography, 43, 647–656.
Deemer, B. R., Harrison, J. A., Li, S., Beaulieu, J. J., Delsontro, T., Barros, N., … Vonk, J. A. (2016). Greenhouse gas emissions from reservoir water surfaces: A new global synthesis. BioScience Advance Access, 66, 949–964.
DelSontro, T., Beaulieu, J. J., & Downing, J. A. (2018). Greenhouse gas emissions from lakes and impoundments: Upscaling in the face of global change. Limnology and Oceanography Letters, 3, 64–75.
Demarty, M., & Bastien, J. (2011). GHG emissions from hydroelectric reservoirs in tropical and equatorial regions: Review of 20 years of CH4 emission measurements. Energy Policy, 39, 4197–4206.
Descloux, S., Chanudet, V., Serça, D., & Guérin, F. (2017). Methane and nitrous oxide annual emissions from an old eutrophic temperate reservoir. Science of the Total Environment, 598, 959–972.
Deshmukh, C. (2013). Greenhouse gas emissions (CH4, CO2 and N2O) from a newly flooded hydroelectric reservoir in subtropical South Asia: The case of Nam Theun 2 Reservoir, Lao PDR. Ocean, Atmosphere. Universite Paul Sabatier- Toulouse III.
Fearnside, P. M. (1995). Hydroelectric dams in the Brazilian Amazon as sources of 'greenhouse' gases. Environmental Conservation, 22, 7–19.
Fearnside, P. M. (2002). Greenhouse gas emissions from a hydroelectric reservoir (Brazil’s Tucuruí dam) and the energy policy implications. Water, Air and Soil Pollution, 133, 69–96.
Galy-Lacaux, C., Delmas, R., Kouadio, J., Richard, S., & Gosse, P. (1999). Long-term greenhouse gas emissions from hydroelectric reservoirs in tropical forest regions. Global Biogeochemical Cycles, 13, 503–517.
Grinham, A., Dunbabin, M., Gale, D., & Udy, J. (2011). Quantification of ebullitive and diffusive methane release to atmosphere from a water storage. Atmospheric Environment, 45, 7166–7173.
Guerin, F., & Abril, G. (2007). Significance of pelagic aerobic methane oxidation in the methane and carbon budget of a tropical reservoir. Journal of Geophysical Research, 112, 127-14.
Guérin, F., Abril, G., Tremblay, A., & Delmas, R. (2008). Nitrous oxide emissions from tropical hydroelectric reservoirs. Geophysical Research Letters, 35, L06404.
Hoffert, M. I., Caldeira, K., Jain, A. K., Haites, E. F., Harvey, L. D. D., Potter, S. D., … Wuebbles, D. J. (1998). Energy implications of future stabilization of atmospheric CO2 content. Nature, 395, 881–884.
IPCC (2006). 2006 National Greenhouse Gas Inventory Guidelines [Eggelston, S., Buendia, L., MiwaK., Ngara, T., & Tanabe, K. (Eds.)]. Kanagawa, Japan: Institute of Global Environmental Strategies (IGES). pp. 20.
IPCC. (2013). The Physical Science Basis. In T. F. Stocker, D. Qin, G.-K. Plattner, M. Tignor, S. K. Allen, J. Boschung, A. Nauels, Y. Xia, V. Bex, & P. M. Midgley (Eds.), Contribution of Working Group 1 to the Fifth Assessment Report of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (pp. 1535). Cambridge, UK and New York, NY: Cambridge University Press.
Kemenes, A., Forsberg, B. R., & Melack, J. M. (2007). Methane release below a tropical hydroelectric dam. Geophysical Research Letters, 34, L12809.
Kemenes, A., Forsberg, B. R., & Melack, J. M. (2011). CO2 emissions from a tropical hydroelectric reservoir (Balbina, Brazil). Journal of Geophysical Research, 116,127–11.
Liu, X. L., Liu, C. Q., Li, S. L., Wang, F. S., Wang, B. L., & Wang, Z. L. (2011). Spatiotemporal variations of nitrous oxide (N2O) emissions from two reservoirs in SW China. Atmospheric Environment, 45, 5458–5468.
Maavara, T., Lauerwald, R., Regnier, P., & Van Cappellen, P. (2016). Global perturbation of organic carbon cycling by river damming. Nature Communications, 8, 15347.
Maeck, A., DelSontro, T., McGinnis, D. F., Fischer, H., Flury, S., Schmidt, M., … Lorke, A. (2013). Sediment trapping by dams creates methane emission hot spots. Environmental Science and Technology, 47, 8130–8137.
Parsons, T., Maita, Y., & Lally, C. (1984). A manual of chemical and biological methods of seawater analysis (p. 173). Oxford, UK: Pergamon Press.
Raymond, P. A., Hartmann, J., Lauerwald, R., Sobek, S., McDonald, C., Hoover, M., … Guth, P. (2013). Global carbon dioxide emissions from inland waters. Nature, 503, 355–359.
Snoussi, M., Kitheka, J., Shaghude, Y., Kane, A., Arthurton, R., Le Tissier, M., & Virji, H. (2007). Downstream and coastal impacts of damming and water abstraction in Africa. Environmental Management, 39, 587–600. https://doi.org/10.1007/s00267-004-0369-2
St. Louis, V. L., Kelly, C. A., Duchemin, E., Rudd, J. W. M., & Rosenberg, D. M. (2000). Reservoir surfaces as sources of greenhouse gases to the atmosphere: A global estimate. BioScience, 50, 766–775.
Sturm, K., Yuan, Z., Gibbes, B., Werner, U., & Grinham, A. (2014). Methane and nitrous oxide sources and emissions in a subtropical freshwater reservoir, South East Queensland, Australia. Biogeosciences, 11, 5245–5258.
Teodoru, C. R., Bastien, J., Boonneville, M. C., De Giorgio, P. A., Demarty, M., Garneau, M., … Tremblay, A. (2012). The net carbon footprint of a newly created boreal hydroelectric reservoir. Global Biogeochemical Cycles, 26, GB2016.
Tremblay, A., Varfalvy, L., Roehm, C., & Garneau, M. (2005). Greenhouse gas emissions- fluxes and processes. Hydroelectric reservoirs and natural environments, 1st ed. Berlin, Germany: Springer.
Tundisi, J. G., Matsumura-Tundisi, T., & Calijuri, M. C. (1993). Limnology and management of reservoirs in Brazil. In M. Straškraba, J. G. Tundisi, & A. Duncan (Eds.), Comparative reservoir limnology and water quality management. Developments in Hydrobiology (pp. 25–55). Springer Netherlands.
Tundisi, J. G., & Tundisi, T. M. (2012). Limnology. Leiden, The Netherlands: CRC Press/Balkema.
Victor, D. G. (1998). Strategies for cutting carbon. Nature, 395, 837–838.
Yang, L., Lu, F., Zhou, X., Wang, X., Duan, X., & Sun, B. (2014). Progress in the studies on the greenhouse gas emissions from reservoirs. Acta Ecologica Sinica, 34, 204–212.
Zhu, D., Chen, H., Yuan, X., Wu, N., Gao, Y., Wu, Y., … Wu, J. (2013). Nitrous oxide emissions from the surface of the Three Gorges Reservoir. Ecological Engineering, 60, 150–154.